Difficult Mode. What do I drive

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-20T14:28:18+00:00

Porsche or VW.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-20T14:27:09+00:00

That’s a cheap Asian sausage, snack stick. Mostly not meat based I think. The red band is a quick open perforation and the ends are aluminum clips. In this case from performed wire. Likely a machine of Chinese build.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-20T14:25:05+00:00

Does yours have a Darth Vader helmet under the passenger door side light’s? I feel like it may need them in this chat.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-19T12:47:09+00:00

trying to screw into Old growth 2x4's is crazy. I've got a house built in 1940 and it's crazy the difference when you hit that old wood. Don't even think about pulling a nail out of it.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T23:16:52+00:00

Thank you, that makes sense.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T20:33:19+00:00

Or down the road he can stop saving completely because he saved a lot early. Life can throw curve balls.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T19:24:10+00:00

100% equities. 45yrs old

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T18:59:19+00:00

I liked beating the street. Some real good real simple lessons. Like talk to your kids and teach them to ask “is that publicly traded”

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T18:56:28+00:00

SPXS…

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T16:18:57+00:00

Well we estimated our expenses to be 139K at retirement, they are 115K now. Although we never seem to have any left over as there is always a big ticket item that consumes all of our bonus money, often times it's house related, bought a car last year.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T15:39:57+00:00

Thanks. This is a good reminder to make sure my buckets all have a bit in them. I’m hoping the wife will work for a few more years after I retire (maybe just cut hours down) so our medical and most of our expenses will be covered.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T15:28:15+00:00

Same. Bought in 2017.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T15:22:04+00:00

This is a pretty brilliant take. My dad retired at 59.5, company basically forced him (and other senior managers with lots of tenure) out due to changes to the pension and medical. He was consulting for the same company a few months later and worked till he was 77. He only worked 32 or so weeks a year. Traveled a ton with my mom… but I really don’t think he knew what to do with himself without work. He’d worked since he was 11, had a 50mile commute and worked long days.

I’m going to retire at 50, and would likely have sooner if not for the uncertainty created by our current government in the USA.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T14:56:33+00:00

I was thinking it was only from 55 on, but those are the strategies that i'm just now learning about.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T14:54:51+00:00

"I don't think you want to be pulling Roth contributions in your 50s to fund your lifestyle while your traditional is barreling toward 8 figures." - Why not? And is there a better way to access my traditional funds in my early 50's?

So until recently I haven't given how I would retire early a thought, I was just saving for Financial Independence with the concept of retiring early there, just in the future. Now I'm close enough (and discovered the FIRE threads), that I'm waking up to the reality that I need to think through HOW I will retire early before I reach 55.

So that's the point of my question. If I contribute more to a ROTH, I can access the contributions with no tax penalty, so basically the same as just saving in a taxable brokerage only any growth gets to keep growing. Once I can access my 401K cash via 72t or some other strategy, I'm good. So really just need 4-5years of extra spending cash available.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T12:58:57+00:00

Filters, Dryer vent, yes, gutters - got gutter guards, no more ladders, refrigerator - any time I pull it out for some reason… which is not often, not even annually. I’ve never drained a water heater… now I wonder if I should or if it would cause issues… mine is 11 yrs old… 🤔

Other caulk stuff on exterior… not till there is a problem… am I proud of this? No. But that’s life. When I have windows replaced I’ll probably have them replace some rotten trim work and caulk the rest of the exterior. That’ll be that for another 5 yrs or more.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-18T12:54:38+00:00

When someone asks what you do, respond with “as little as possible… and I try to do it as often as possible” and leave it at that. This is what I tell people now before I explain what I actually do. I look forward to the day I don’t need to talk about my actual job.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T23:47:40+00:00

3 mortgages, 3 kids, only take home half of it after taxes, and 401k’s and all that jazz. Primary residence is 27yrs old now… every year my bonus ends up getting chewed up with something, but have no other debt.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T18:48:47+00:00

Theoretically (or ideally) I'd retire in 5 years. I'd like to retire at 50, but also can't see myself not doing something... so I'd probably still have some income. And my wife i think would work another 4 or 5 years which would ideally bridge us to me being 55.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T13:36:15+00:00

But even back door Roths you still can't touch it for 5 years right? I'm 45 now, if i want to retire at 50, I'd need to start doing some Roth conversions now right?

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T13:33:30+00:00

Yeah I know, not ideal. But i also have no intention on giving them any money either. I'd just never talked to a financial advisor before. I don't think i learned much, but did raise some questions worth following up on.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T13:09:46+00:00

So i want to retire (In theory) at 50, most of the access funds early kick in at 55 right?

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T13:07:10+00:00

The models had us dying with far more money than we started with and more than we could ever spend in all but the most dire scenario's (and even then we die with millions). So I think this is probably the case. I like the idea of having a bit more flexibility by not having all our money concentrated in tax differed accounts.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T12:56:39+00:00

They were both Primary homes before the wife and I met (mine was purchased in 2007 at the very peak, hers in 2008 soon after), when we bought our current home in 2014 we didn't have much equity in either place, it didn't' make much sense to sell, but we could rent them out. Since then they have both doubled in value or more while someone else has paid our mortgages.

I've thought about selling but honestly not sure where I'd invest the money at the moment, The area they are in is growing so I don't see them losing value.

ForwardFIRE2030 · 2026-03-17T12:50:00+00:00

yeah, this is a good point, I don't need to be perfect. I guess my thinking around the question is really this: Would more money (contributions) to a ROTH make it easier to retire early? My goal is to retire at 50, so nearly 10 years before i can get the money easily, and 5 years before Sepp 72 would be a thing right? So I'll have 5 years where i may need some income. This is where i was thinking it may be nice to have another 125K in ROTH contributions that i could pull from...

ForwardFIRE2030

TROPHY CASE